high school au
by romancedon
Summary: The school year starts, and Luffy begins high school at age 14, giving his brothers headaches with each new friend he makes: ""Is this guy like your other friends, Luffy? Like that guy who uses three bats on the baseball team, or the other one that's fourteen and owns a car?" Sabo teases. "Or, the one that steals from teachers when they aren't looking," Ace says."
1. Chapter 1

The real ceramic dinner plates, mismatched, but _real_, were set at the table alongside drinking glasses smudged with water spots. The napkins were still paper and had been folded with an attempt at meticulous care, the forks and knives lining the plates completely out of order.

Makino doesn't mind. She steps into the living room and her face lights up as always whenever it is transformed into a dining room on her behalf.

"Dadan, it looks lovely," she says, and the rest of the house falls into their cues like clockwork.

Luffy scrambles to the table first, but Sabo knocks him out of the way. Ace has the patience to wait for the rest of the Dadan family to shove into their seats, before picking up his youngest brother by the back of his shirt and tossing him into the next chair over.

To Ace's right, Makino sits, as always. He pulls out her chair and Sabo cracks a remark, _where are these manners when Makino isn't around, Ace?_, and Luffy snorts out laughs as he eats his steak.

Dinner is fast, and loud, and dirty. Luffy likes the ceramic plates because they're easier to lick clean than the paper ones usually reserved for dinner. He likes dinner with Makino in general, because it only happens once a week, and everything just feels warmer with her around. Everybody says _thank you_ after they leave the table, just because Makino is there, and Dadan pretends like she doesn't appreciate hearing it once in a while.

When the piles of food disappear, and the rest of the boarding house tenants leave to their apartments, everyone is calm. Makino still slowly eats her meal while Sabo tugs Luffy and Ace's ears to get them to clean the table. Her laughter mixes with Dadan's as the older woman enjoys a cigarette. The tv is set on the evening news, droning on in a pleasant way that fills the room.

It isn't often that the boys follow rules, but for this they do: they all shuffle back into the living room with their pruney, soapy hands, brushing them dry on their shirts. They sit at the table around Makino and Dadan, and talk.

Before Makino can even ask the same question she has asked him for the past month, Luffy already blurts out, _wanna know what I did at school this week?_

"Actually, I was more concerned for those bruises on your shoulder," Makino laughs.

Luffy's smile drops and he looks down at his shoulder in surprise, touching a hand to the mottled purple dots barely hidden under the strap of his red tanktop. His reaction had been the same when he staggered home to Dadan, who screamed, and then placed all the ice in the freezer into plastic bags to press to his wounds.

"Oh, a fish bit me," Luffy says, then his smile flips back on. "But Makino! I made another friend!"

"Another! What is this now, number 4?"

"Yah-huh," Luffy nods and grips the table, leaning forward, just like how he always did at Makino's bar as a child. "He works at the Baratie. Or, he did, I think he was fired? But it was a good thing. Anyway, he's my friend."

"Fired, but it was good?" Ace repeats. "You probably got that one mixed up."

"No! His dad owns it."

Makino gasps, in that light way that sounds like she is humoring Luffy.

"The owner of the Baratie? That's a very fancy restaurant, Luffy. Your friend must like cooking," Makino says.

"Or hates it, since he was fired," Dadan mutters to the ceiling, watching her cigarette smoke leave her lungs as she speaks.

"Nuh-huh, he loves cooking. He just doesn't wanna work there anymore, he wants to go to normal school, like us."

"Oh, where did he go before?" Makino asks.

Luffy shrugs, and starts to get bored, because there's only so much he can talk about. He dips his finger in his glass of water and drags it along the rim, the way Sabo taught him, but no singing note happens no matter how hard he presses.

"He didn't go to school. He just worked at the Baratie," Luffy says, and pushes harder, until Dadan smacks his hand away.

"Like social services would let that slip," Ace snorts.

"Is this guy like your other friends, Luffy? Like that guy who uses three bats on the baseball team, or the other one that's fourteen and owns a car?" Sabo teases.

Ace laughs and slaps his hands on the table, rattling the glasses as he leans across the surface, beaming at Sabo.

"Or, the one that steals from teachers when they aren't looking," Ace says, and he and Sabo hit the table with their laughter.

Luffy can only take so much, so he stands, knocking over his chair and lunging forward to punch his brothers. One blow manages to clip Ace on the back of the head, while the other lands into the table, and the whole thing would keep going if not for Makino's voice slipping in between all the yells, asking them to stop.

With one last suckerpuch from Ace, Luffy falls back down in his chair and glares at his brothers.

"Luffy, you were telling me about your friend?" Makino says.

His anger disappears and he looks at Makino blankly, before his mouth twists up in a pout.

"I have friends. I have four of 'em, and they're real people," he grumbles.

"Not with names like _Zoro_," Ace mutters, and Luffy's fist is caught by Dadan the second he reels it back.

Sensing another blow up as Dadan screams at Luffy, Makino knocks on the table to grab their attention.

"Zoro! Yes, that is a unique name. What are your other friends' names?" Makino says.

Dadan sighs and sits back into her chair with a heavy _thud_, and Luffy just grins, his anger melting away in an instant.

"Well, the newest one is Sanji, and there's Usopp, and Nami too," he says with pride.

Before Makino can open her mouth to keep smoothing out the mood in the room, Sabo knocks over his drink, but there is no explosion of loud voices to follow it. He and Ace are stuck frozen, mouths open, staring wide-eyed at Luffy.

"Did you say _Nami_?" Ace asks.

Luffy nods. "Yup. Nami."

"No way, no _way_ is that girl friends with you," Sabo says.

"Well, not at first," Luffy says with a shrug and a grin. "But now she is! That's why I was home late last night, she had a party at her apartment -"

"- A _what_," Dadan hisses, but it is drowned out by the older boys shouting.

"You did not go to Nami's apartment!"

"Is it full of other people's stuff -"

Makino watches helplessly as Dadan stands up, her chair falling behind her to the floor with a loud clatter that does nothing to stop the shouts from the three boys. Despite their height, she still towers over them all, and easily lifts Sabo and Ace under her arms as they kick and scream in protest. Luffy stays behind and laughs at them, watching as they disappear down the hall. All shouting stops after the loud bang of their bodies being dropped at the foot of the stairs echoes around the house.

"Your rooms! Now! No dessert!" Dadan bellows.

"What? But what about dessert -"

"_Go_!"

They pound up the stairs just because they know the splintering, old steps can handle it just as much as Dadan's temper can. The door slams shut and Dadan waits a moment before rushing back into the living room, grabbing Luffy by the back of his shirt.

"What?! Why me, too?" Luffy asks.

He doesn't get dropped, just placed at the stairs, and he looks up at Dadan whose entire cigarette needs to be ashed.

"Because you're a damn beast like the other two! Now get up there, because I want to talk to my friend," Dadan says.

Luffy huffs but, as far as Dadan's reasoning goes, it's pretty good. He can't disagree. He makes it halfway up the stairs before turning around, face splitting with his smile.

"Hey, what's for dessert -"

"It doesn't matter, because you aren't getting any!"

He shuffles the rest of the way up, and knows, before trying, that the door to the boys' room is locked. He kicks it against the same corner as always before Dadan shouts for it to be opened, and instantly, it does, and Luffy is dragged inside.

The night runs late because Luffy refuses to say anymore about his friends, and his brothers team up against him to try to get him to speak. It doesn't take long for the meaning of the interrogation to be lost among chokeholds and laughter. Their three mattresses are shoved against the wall, placed in a way that makes it a perfect landing site for them to practice their body slams on each other.

By the time Makino leaves, and Dadan stomps up stairs to chew them out over all the noise, they're all asleep in a pile on the floor.

She mutters a curse under her breath, aimed at them and herself. She pulls out a blanket and tosses it over them, shutting the door quietly behind her.


	2. Chapter 2

The house looks its best in the morning from the breakfast nook in the kitchen. The windows open up to the small patch of scrubby grass in the backyard, the greenest tufts shining with morning dew as slats of light fall from the window and onto the breakfast table. Dadan is awake by dawn every morning, and Sabo is always the first to find her, leaning against the kitchen counter among breakfast ingredients, waiting for her three boys to wake up.

Sabo, at least, is always ready for the day by the time he steps into the kitchen, dressed head to toe in his one blue suit. Ace shuffles down behind Sabo because he makes him do it, but Ace rolls out of bed in just his boxers.

Sabo grabs a fistfull of Ace's hair and lifts his head off of the stack of Eggo waffles it had fallen into when he dozed off. He kindly sets his brother's face against the wood of the table, and goes back to pacing the kitchen, sipping his coffee as Dadan glares at him over the top of her paper.

"You're giving me a headache," Dadan says.

Sabo stops, eyebrows pinched with confusion, and downs the rest of his coffee in a few large gulps. Then, he steps behind the kitchen counter to pour himself another cup.

"Stunts your growth, y'know," Dadan mutters and she flicks her newspaper to stiffen it.

"So do cigarettes, but they've never stopped you," Sabo shoots back.

Dadan groans, loud enough to stir Ace, who chimes in with his own low groan of displeasure at the noise. They sound like a hideous choir, and Sabo grins.

"What's with the damn pacing?" she asks. "You already ruin my mornings during the week, do you have to ruin my weekends too?"

Sabo makes a show of rolling his eyes, and Ace begins to sit up, rubbing his face and still moaning.

"You want quiet mornings, or us to be unemployed?" Sabo says, then pauses. "I'm just thinking."

"That's a first," Ace and Dadan both chime, and even with the insult, Sabo laughs.

Sabo drops into his seat next to Ace, who is shoveling waffles into his mouth whole.

"I'm still hung up on the Nami thing," Sabo says to Ace.

Ace replies with his mouth full, going on even though Sabo can't understand him, but he just waits it out. Finally, Ace swallows his food and guzzles down his glass of orange juice, letting it drip out the corners of his mouth.

"So, that's why we've gotta look out for him, y'know?" Ace continues. "If he goes on lying like this, or annoying people, they could really fuck him up. Especially Zoro."

"Right," Sabo nods. "I heard he took out five guys from North Blue High, _with_ his bats."

"This Zoro guy is real?" Dadan asks.

The pair nod in unison and she bites down on her cigarette to smother a grin at the sight.

"Yeah, he's been at East Blue since last year, but he got held back because the guy never shows up to class," Sabo says.

"_And_, he's violent as hell, real asshole," Ace adds.

"Then why have you been pretending he isn't real?"

They both explode, leaning forward and talking loudly, as if their enthusiasm and noise will help their adoptive mother understand.

"Because there's no way he's friends with Luffy -"

"- He'll fuck Luffy up if he gets annoyed -"

Dadan slams her fists on the table, and god bless the morning and her tired boys, because it actually shuts them up for once. She sighs and pulls out her cigarette, setting her crumpled newspaper down on the table.

"We figured if we pretended he didn't exist, Luffy would bring us to him someday, and we'd be able to beat the shit out of him," Sabo says.

"Alright, you know what? I don't care," Dadan says, and washes herself completely from the weird schemes of her sons by leaving the table. She takes her dirty dishes and dumps them in the sink with a loud clatter.

"You idiots are always getting into trouble and fights, even when I tell you not to, and this time, I don't care."

Ace and Sabo's eyes meet at the declaration, and they both start laughing.

"So when we come home late some night, all fucked up after fighting a guy with three bats, you won't be up on your fifth carton of cigarettes, waiting for us?" Ace asks.

Dadan doesn't reply and goes about making more coffee, which sends the pair into another fit.

"You said the same thing when Luffy came home at 5 AM the night before," Sabo says. "And you were up to welcome him back."

"So were you two little shits," Dadan spits.

"Well yeah, 'course we were," Ace says with a shrug, and then points to Dadan. "Hey, while you're in there, can you make some bacon -"

"- Make it yourself!"

Sabo laughs as Ace, from his seat, shouts at Dadan to make some bacon because she's already up, and he _has to get to work or else his boss'll be mad at him, goddammit Dadan, what the fuck are you even our mother for?_ Tenants from upstairs stomp on their floors to get the pair to shut up, but it just adds into all the noise.

Sabo likes it. He likes these mornings that run like a clock wound up too fast. Ace gets up to shout in Dadan's face, completely missing the fact that now that he's up, he can make bacon if he wants. And because he's just wearing the pair of boxers he slept in, Dadan grabs a fistfull of his necklace instead of a shirt, telling him she ought to just throw him out like she wanted to the second he was dropped off years ago. Sabo drinks his second cup of coffee and listens as someone stomps down stairs, and the tenants above begin shouting.

He expects it to peter out to quiet again when Luffy shuffles into the kitchen, yawning but fully dressed. Instead, the shouting in the kitchen dies the second the doorbell buzzes throughout the house.

The entire house goes silent except for Luffy, who springs to life with a grin.

"Oh, that's Nami," he says, and starts off down the hall with a wave goodbye to his family in the kitchen.

Ace slips out of Dadan's grasp and Sabo isn't far behind him as they tear off down the hall. They shove Luffy out of the way. The three shove and punch their way to the door until the victor, Ace, pulls it open.

The thumps and bangs that traveled down the hall, and the three boys panting and struggling at the door stand in stark contrast to the cool morning that greets them. A tall girl with short orange hair stands on their front step, her back to the sun. The strings from an aqua blue bathingsuit loop around her neck, and the wind carries the smell of sunscreen and oranges into the house.

When Sabo's head pops up from fighting off Luffy behind Ace, the girl narrows her eyes with caution, leaning away from the door. They just stare at each other, until Luffy shoves his brothers' heads down and props himself up over their bodies, laughing.

"Hi, Nami!"

Any reservations she had before melt away, and a smile spreads across her face, alight with joy and relief.

"Hi, Luffy," she says, and turns to point with her thumb over her shoulder at the small, white car parked in front of the house. "I left the car running so c'mon, let's go."

The second he starts to shove past the two bodies at the door, Ace and Sabo hold still like a wall made solely out of determination. Luffy whines in protest and like a pack of wild dogs, the other two chorus in to see who can be the loudest.

Ace wins, as usual.

"Hey, what are you doing with our brother?" He barks.

Nami takes a step back from the door and frowns, not exactly scared, but not thrilled to be on the receiving end of a guy's anger who is dressed only in a pair of Scooby-doo boxers. But Sabo knows to smooth it over, so he slaps the back of his hand against Ace's chest to let him know that he'll handle this.

"What he means, is," and here Sabo smiles wide, as friendly as he can muster with Luffy tugging his hair, "Hello, we're Luffy's brothers. We were just enjoying breakfast, would you care to come in to join us?"

Luffy stops beating up his brothers' backs and pops his head up over their shoulders again, grinning.

Nami's face is firm with resolve and she shakes her head, arms crossed over her stomach.

"No, the others are waiting. C'mon Luffy."

She turns on her heel and walks down the steps to her car. With a force usually reserved for real fights, Luffy pushes his shocked brothers aside and follows after her.

The pair at the door watch Luffy as he chats to Nami, who slides into the driver's seat, in complete disbelief of what they are seeing. Luffy never listens to _anyone_.

"Hey!" Ace shouts, grabbing both of their attention, and before he can sling insults, Sabo claps his hand over his mouth.

"Hey!" Sabo repeats, with a smile as Ace licks his hand to make him pull it away. He doesn't budge. "How about you give us a ride to work, huh? It won't take long!"

"We're going to the Baratie," Nami shouts back. "Do you work near the docks?"

"Yes! What a coincidence!" Sabo beams, and now Ace is biting at his palm. "Look, wait for us for a sec, yeah? This idiot will get dressed and we'll be on our way."

Nami looks at Luffy. He nods, laughing, and she sighs.

"Fine. But I'm only waiting three minutes!"

"Perfect!" Sabo screams with brilliant enthusiasm, and shoves Ace inside, kicking him down the hall to usher him to their bedroom to get dressed.

Nami stares at the door as it hangs open and shouts from the whole house leak out.

"You never said you had brothers," Nami says.

Luffy shrugs and walks around the car to the passenger's seat.

"You never asked."


	3. Chapter 3

Ace leaps down the front steps with his unbuttoned shirt flapping in the wind behind him like a yellow sun flare. One hand keeps a grip on his unbuttoned shorts, the other around a fistful of bacon. Dadan screams out the door after him as he crashes into the backseat where Sabo sits, and his shouts of _go go go!_ are useless, because Nami tears out of the street with his door hanging open.

The car door crashes shut as the car moves and Ace sighs, leaning back into the tan leather seat. He holds out the bacon and his brothers each grab a share before he stuffs the rest in his mouth, and gets a look around the car.

It's _nice_.

"Hey, how old are you?" Ace asks.

"Fifteen," Nami replies.

Sabo and Ace share a look.

"There's no way you have your license," Ace says.

Nami's eyes look at him through the rearview mirror, and if feels a bit like staring at the barrel of a gun.

"And there's no way you two actually work near the docks, so how about you don't ask questions?" she says.

Luffy's peals of laughter do nothing to put his brothers at ease. He twists around in his seat and grins at them.

"Isn't she great?" he asks. "I told you she was."

Sabo and Ace say nothing, but Luffy's good mood doesn't sour as he turns around and holds his arm out the window to feel the wind. Not liking the quickly settling quiet, and knowing that Ace will erupt with something insulting in a minute, Sabo takes control of the conversation.

"So, Nami, how did you and Luffy meet?"

She takes a quick glance at Luffy, who looks at her. It feels a bit too much like the wordless communication Ace and Sabo always share, the kind Luffy never understands. But something passes between the two and Nami looks back at the road.

"He just asked me to be his friend," she says, and she shakes her hair out to hide the way her cheeks bunch with a smile. "I said no at first, but now I'm here to stay."

"Hm," Sabo says and frowns at Ace.

Ace picks up where Sabo leaves off, leaning forward with his hand curling around Nami's seat.

"So, where are you guys going today?"

"We're picking up the others to go to the beach," Nami says.

"Yeah! Nami saw a whale and I wanna see it too," Luffy says. His hand dangling out of the window lifts up in a fist of determination.

Ace laughs, loud and caustic, which makes Nami jump in surprise. Sabo watches with his nerves twitching, because he knows that laugh.

"Whale watching and a day at the beach?" he asks, his tone hard. "Is that really how the city's resident cat burglar gets her kicks?"

Nami's eyes are in the rearview mirror again, but they are blank, as if she is trying to figure something out. Luffy goes still, his hand no longer drifting through the air, waiting with his brothers for Nami's response.

Her eyes squeeze up with a smile, the light catching them prettily, and she laughs. In the side mirror, Sabo can see Luffy's face alight.

"A girl's gotta have a vacation sometime, right?" she says.

Ace's smile is slow to spread, like a morning glory, soft and happy to unfurl under the brightness of this girl. No wonder the cops can't pin anything on her, even when half the city knows it's her that is breaking into homes and lifting their safes - she's too damn charming.

Luffy stares at Nami with his expression soft, and his brothers watch him.

"How much has Luffy told you guys about me?" she asks, and before they can answer, Luffy pipes up.

"Nothing," he says. "Just that you're my friend."

"Alright," she nods, like she is tasting the words for the first time, savoring their flavor and finding them to be good.

Luffy smiles and reaches over to tug on her shirt sleeve, lifting it to look at the heavy black tattoo there. He pokes it, _gently_, with the kind of quiet reverence he keeps reserved for Makino.

The calm silence of the car is disrupted when Nami slams her elbow up into Luffy's chest, slowing the car and pointing out the window.

"Luffy, is that - for fuck's sake," she sighs.

Luffy starts laughing, hard, blindly reaching to the ceiling controls to press buttons and hope one opens the sunroof. Ace and Sabo look out the window to see a tall teenager walking down the street, two baseball bats slung through a belt loop on his black jeans, the other bat held in one hand over his shoulder. He's looking at the houses lining the sidewalk, so he jumps about a foot in the air when Nami lays her hand on the car horn.

By now, Luffy is hanging out of the sunroof, screaming.

"Zoro! Oi, Zoro, over here!"

Nami leans out the driver's side window, scoffing and rolling her eyes.

"Why the hell are you walking in the opposite direction of the docks?" she shouts.

"Eh?" Zoro says and jerks his head down the road. "We're supposed to meet at the Baratie, right?"

"You're going the wrong way!"

"Zoro! Zoro, come meet my big brothers!"

"What?"

"Get in the car, dumbass," Nami says.

Zoro shrugs, and smiles up at Luffy who is waving his fists out of the sunroof before Nami drags him back into the car.

Ace scrambles to slide against Sabo as Zoro enters the car, Zoro being mindful of the bats, letting the one he was holding lay against his lap. He looks to the two boys sharing the seat with him, and up close, they can see that Zoro is young. He looks older than sixteen, but he's not the demon the rumors around the school district made him out to be.

Still. Ace glares at the bats and Zoro glares at Ace, and Sabo thrusts his hand out to be friendly.

"Hello, I'm Sabo, Luffy's older brother," Sabo says. "And the idiot next to me is Ace, Luffy's other older brother."

Zoro stares at his hand for a moment.

"I know," he says.

Sabo drops his hand.

"Oh? Did Luffy -"

"- No. You're both well known in the district," Zoro says, and the corner of his mouth tugs up in a smile. "Kinda wish Luffy had mentioned it, though."

Sabo is a little nervous about his reputation being spread, because he is at Dadan's for the purpose of laying low until he turns eighteen, but Ace is thrilled. He bounces as he sits up, gripping Nami's seat to lean forward.

"Yeah? What's the word around town about us?" Ace asks.

"Fire-Fist Ace works for Edward Newgate, known for dousing boxing gloves with lighter fluid and setting them on fire to scare anyone that steps up to him," Nami says, calm and clear and amused, like she is reading from a textbook. "While Sabo works for that terrorist organization in the heart of the old subway system."

Her eyes are bright in the rearview mirror.

"How did I do?" she asks the silence.

"You are a complete witch," Zoro laughs.

"Nami's really smart," Luffy says, his cheek pressed against his headrest as he looks at his brothers.

"Shit. Yeah," Ace mutters.

Sabo, not wanting to dwell on the topic much longer, decides to change the subject.

"So, Zoro! How did you meet Luffy?"

Zoro and Luffy look at each other, and again, it's that silent communication that passes between their eyes. All it takes is for their glances to meet and their smiles to spread. Before Zoro answers, Luffy turns back around to sit in his seat, leaning his arm and head out the window.

"He broke me out of detention," Zoro says.

"What were you in for?" Ace asks.

"Ehhh," Zoro moans, and cracks his neck by jerking his head from side to side. "Don't wanna talk about it."

Luffy laughs in the front. Zoro is smiling like there is a joke being told, to which only he and Luffy know the punchline. It doesn't open any more room for questions, and Ace and Sabo decide to drop it.

Nami takes a turn down a large, wide road, and slows the car to stop at the front of a hospital. The nice hospital, the good one the brothers know Dadan can't afford to send them to when they're bloodied and beaten. Luffy starts to bounce in his seat and stretch his arm out the window, while Nami clicks her tongue against her teeth, craning her neck to look at the entrance.

"Do you see him, Luffy?" she asks.

"Nope," Luffy says, and a second later, he sucks in a deep breath to bellow, "_USOPP!_"

Nami's fist collides with Luffy's shoulder and he whines, pulling himself back into the car to rub his arm. Ace and Sabo snicker from the back, because really, how hard could that have hurt?

"We're in a hospital parking lot, idiot! Don't yell!" she says.

"I see him! See, Nami, you gotta yell, or else nobody hears you," Luffy says.

A thin, awkward boy rushes up to the car, dressed in a pair of brown overalls and a wool beanie shoved over his head despite the heat. His grin is wide and nervous as he goes up to Luffy's open window and leans inside.

"Hey guys," he says with relief, as if he's just happy they're there at all.

Luffy's bright _Hi!_ is drowned out by Nami, who blows a raspberry as she looks at the back of the car, leaning forward against Luffy to speak to Usopp.

"The car's a bit full," Nami says.

"Huh?"

Usopp pushes his head into the car and looks at the three crowded teenagers in the backseat, and his eyes grow impossibly wide, stretching out his thick black eyelashes as if they were lined up to be counted. He sputters and looks to Luffy for answers.

"Who the hell are these guys? What are they doing in Merry?"

Luffy laughs. "These guys are my brothers! Sabo, Ace, say hi!"

Both boys say _hello_, and Usopp drums his fingers on the car with rapid, twitchy taps. Nami takes a deep breath and releases it, making Luffy giggle as it blows against his shoulder.

"We can make it work. Usopp, climb into the back."

"_What?!_" Usopp says, his voice squealing like teeth crushing ice, and he leaps away from the car as if it were about to explode. "I'm - I'm _not_ going in the trunk!"

"I didn't say the trunk, I said the back, now get in!" Nami shouts, and her head whips around to glare at the trio behind her. "You three, make room!"

Zoro is the first one to move, shoving himself against the door as far as possible. Ace's knee knocks against Zoro's bats and he curses loudly, while Sabo opens the door and presses against Ace, making sure to smile through his grimacing to be polite to this new friend of Luffy's. Nami watches all of them like a hawk, while Luffy watches with a dumb smile stretching his face.

Usopp steps in like he's testing a pool before a swim. Only, he never jumps in; he eases himself inside, and Nami taps the gas to lurch the car forward, making him fall into the seat. He screams and clings to Sabo while the pair in the front laugh together, and Ace, tired already of being shoved against Zoro, reaches to shut the door behind Usopp.

"Just go already," he grunts, and Nami drives off to the docks.

Usopp is not like Nami or Zoro, who came with reputations. He's a bit of a disappointment for Luffy's brothers, because they learn that just about anything gets him anxious and squirming. In the first few minutes of silence as Nami continues their drive, Sabo's knee accidentally knocks against Usopp's, and the younger boy tries harder and harder to press himself against the door.

"Usopp, it's alright," Sabo says. "You can relax."

"Relax? Who's not relaxed? Not me," Usopp laughs, and doesn't move.

"Usopp, it's your car," Nami says. "You could've kicked me out of the driver's seat if you wanted to. Or Luffy."

"But you know I can't - I can't drive. That's why you...," Usopp says, and the sun seems to dawn across his face. "Wait a minute, Nami! Nami, you can't drive, you're fifteen!"

Nami laughs and sticks her tongue out at him, winking.

"Oh my god, we're going to get arrested. Kaya's going to want to get Merry back! There's no way she'd let me keep her now, holy _shit_, Nami, pull over!"

When Nami and Luffy's laughter are the only thing coming from the front seat, Usopp's reservations about personal space disappear. He leans across Sabo and Ace, and grabs Zoro's knee to shake it.

"Zoro, why are you letting her drive?!"

Zoro jerks his knee up and it presses Usopp's hand into the back of Nami's seat, and Usopp whines with annoyance as he tugs it free.

"Don't ask me, you know I can't drive," Zoro says.

Usopp's eyes dart around the car as if looking for an escape, and when they land on Ace and Sabo, he seems to have found what he's looking for.

"Nami, c'mon, let one of Luffy's brothers drive, I'm sure they -"

"We can't," Sabo says.

Usopp slouches down into the squeaking leather, grabbing his face and moaning and muttering to himself - _We're going to die we're going to jail there's no way Kaya will ever speak to me again and I can't believe you let her do this, Zoro, I expect this from Luffy but not from you! What am I going to tell Kaya when I go to prison, maybe I'll tell her I won a free vacation contest and, yeah, that's good_ - while the trio of Luffy and his friends are content to ignore it.

"You shouldn't have left her at my house the other night," Nami says.

"But! But I - I have the keys with me, I took them so...," Usopp pauses and then jumps forward, half his body spilling into the front seat, causing Nami to swerve and the rest of the passengers to shout in surprise.

Usopp doesn't hear it, doesn't notice anything except for the colorful wires snaking around Nami's ankles.

"Holy _shit_, _you hot wired Merry!_"

Luffy starts laughing as Nami proudly talks about her achievements over Usopp's dramatic sobbing, while Zoro shouts at them all to just shut up already.

It feels like the boarding house back home, with Dadan and her tenants and Makino all at the heart of it, everybody fighting and pulling at each other. Gentle fists crashing for fun, laced with love and insults, everybody getting annoyed but looking forward to the same thing each night served that the dinner table. It is honest and loud and fierce, the best kind of love, the only kind that ever mattered for the trio of brothers.

And Luffy found it in a group kids his own age in a matter of weeks, when Ace and Sabo found their own places after years of shoving other people away and clinging only to Dadan's family.

The pair of brothers share a glance, like Luffy looking at Nami and Zoro, and they know their revelation is shared.

Not wanting to be smothered by his awe, Sabo clears his throat. The car goes silent.

"Sorry, but who is Merry?"

Usopp thrusts his thumb into his chest which is expanded with pride.

"Merry is the car. _My_ car, last time I checked, since it was a gift from _my_ friend, who I was just visiting, who said to me with her weak, sickly voice, _oh Usopp, tell your friends I say hello, they're all such wonderful people, I bet they'd never break twenty laws in one day!_"

"Aw," Zoro coos. "Tell her we all say hi."

Nami and Luffy go hoarse from their laughter and Usopp sulks, looking out the window.

By the time Nami drives up the hill that leads down to the coast, Sabo realizes both he and Ace are very late for work. The sun shines higher in the sky than when they had left, rays sparkling across the water and lighting the forest of ships in a thick silhouette. All laughter and sour moods dissipate at the sight, everyone stretching their necks just a bit to get a look at the water, because as close as they all are, they very rarely see it.

The Baratie is docking as Nami pulls up to the mouth of the marina, dock workers tossing ropes from the deck to loop around the metal latchings, each one moving with hurried speed.

One person steps off of the deck and onto the floating dock with no lightning fast urgency. He's the opposite, a tall teenager in a black suit with a lazy sway as he walks. The only thing he tosses is a look over his shoulder before he lights a cigarette.

Luffy opens his door and steps out of the car, waving his arms.

"Oi, Sanji! Over here!"

Nami looks at the back seat and her smile is overly sweet.

"This is as far as I can take you," she says to Sabo and Ace. "It was nice to meet you boys. Now, get out of the car."

Ace starts shoving Zoro the second he gets the ok to leave, while Sabo hangs behind to shake Nami's hand one last time and let her know that it was a pleasure to finally meet her. By the time he steps out, he finds Luffy introducing the new boy to Ace.

"Oh, Sabo, you too," Luffy calls and waves him over with his free hand, as the other is wrapped around the new boy's shoulders. "Sabo, this is Sanji."

"It's nice to meet you," Sanji says.

It is Sanji who extends his hand first to shake, and the detail isn't lost on Sabo. He opens his mouth to comment but the car horn fills the air, along with Nami's voice.

"Hurry up! It's going to storm at 5 and I don't want to spend the whole day in the parking lot!"

Sanji shoves Sabo aside to get inside the car, moving with an enthusiasm and speed that doesn't match the ease with which he moved on the docks. Laughing, Luffy returns back to his seat, and is already waving goodbye as Nami and the three boys in the backseat all bicker loudly.

Ace lays his hand on Luffy's door, and ducks his head inside the cabin. Sabo leans over him, not forcing himself inside, but close enough so he can still see the pair in the front seat.

"Hey, make sure my idiot baby brother doesn't drown, ok?" Ace says. "He can't swim."

"_Ace_," Luffy whines, and tries to push him out the window.

"I'm serious, he sinks like a rock."

"His nickname as a kid used to be Anchor," Sabo adds.

To their surprise, the entire car snorts and rolls their eyes in unison.

"Yeah, we _know_," Zoro says darkly.

Sanji scoffs and his cigarette smoke leaves his lungs in a fast, blurry cloud.

"Damn near drowned in Nami's pool," he says.

Nami adjusts the rearview mirror and taps her hand on the steering wheel, turning around to back out and staring at Ace and Sabo, before her gaze drifts to Luffy. The pair of brothers watch as her expression is turns expectant, as if this girl who took them the whole way there needs direction from their baby brother.

Luffy looks at Ace and Sabo, smiling.

"We gotta go guys," he says. "Don't worry, I'll be fine! They're my friends."

Ace steps away from the car, and Nami pulls out. As she drives off, she honks the horn and five hands wave from the windows.


End file.
